Moth To The Flame
by Duckster's-Rave
Summary: Short, kinda fluffy RxM oneshot. Ryou's got a bit of a well, 'problem' with moths, and finds an unlikely hero. Summary slightly crappy, contains shonen-ai and insects ;D


**A.N: ****Yeah, **_**I**_** think my brain melted whilst I was writing this, too. **

**So, a short, fluffy, random oneshot with my current favorite pairing ^-^ Angstshipping is underrated in my opinion. **

**DISCLAIMER****: Imma let Bakura take it away with this one, seeing as he doesn't really make an appearance in this oneshot.**

**Bakura: *looking severely bored* So, yeah, the fan-Latias does not own any of the characters or whatever of **_**YuGiOh**_**, otherwise that damn Pharaoh would be getting my fist in his smug face every episode. And maybe a knife, or a machete or-**

**Lantu: *Cuts off Bakura before he goes off on a Yami-bashing rant* Only if I can hug-rape Ryou to death, okay?**

**Bakura: *shrugs* I'm sold**

**Ryou: *pops his head around the door* Uh, did someone mention my name?**

**Lantu and Bakura: *both walk off whistling innocently***

**Moth to the Flame **

It was a typically clichéd cold and dark winter night in the city of Domino, Japan; and it seemed to be truly setting in that it was nearing the Christmas season. The lights of buildings all over the city were subdued due to the late hour, except for the halo of light from around the curtains of a single apartment's bedroom window.

Ryou Bakura cocooned himself deeper within his blankets, staring determinedly at the book on his lap in a vain attempt to distract himself from the reason he was still up at three in the morning. Said reason was currently bashing itself into further concussion into the lightbulb of his lamp on the bedside table, each thump that it made disproportionate to its small size.

A single, tiny brown moth was what was keeping the white-haired boy up at such a late hour, utterly terrified, too much so to even move to turn off the lamp and let the moth go away of its own accord. All of this would be bad enough for anyone with a phobia of insects, but was made all the worse for Ryou by the Spirit of the Ring making snide comments every five seconds. The voice seemed to be taking severe pleasure in his hikari's terror, as was the usual thing Bakura did whenever he was bored. Which was surprisingly often – Ryou wasn't the most interesting of people when he was in control.

_**//Well, except for the fact that you are a seventeen-year-old teenage boy currently cowering in bed from a single moth. So maybe you aren't happy enough with just **_**looking**_** like a girl. Although, you even **_**consider **_**a sex change and I'm taking permanent control, okay?//**_

Ryou bit his lip in an attempt to not say anything back to the taunts – he knew it would only come out as whiny and give the spirit more excuses to tell him what a girl he was being. At one point he'd even taken control of Ryou's body and made him capture the insect in one of his hands – in an attempt to make Ryou less scared or to terrify the boy further he wasn't sure; but as soon as his left hand shut around that fluttering creature Ryou yanked back control in a very rare occasion. The sheer shock of it _touching _him had sent him into taking refuge in his bed, as the moth floundered around by the light once more. 

_/Okay, so I have a problem with moths…it's a perfectly normal phobia, right?/ _Ryou thought, poking his head around the tops of his quilts to see if it was still there. It was, and as if it noticed the whitette's face protruding from the bed, made a fluttering dive for him and causing Ryou to squeak with sudden fright and whip his head back under. /_RIGHT?/_

_**//Okay, now even **_**I **_**can't find anything that would make this anything more embarrassing for you, yadonushi//, **_he heard the Spirit say in his head. _**//However, rest assured I **_**will**_** be taking full advantage of this particular, uh, problem, in public.// **_Ryou blinked uneasily. _**//Or not…// **_Bakura snickered once more before his voice receded, leaving their shared mind silent.

Silent, that was; until a sharp tapping on the window sent the teen into another panic, huddling further in the quilts with random thoughts of: '_Oh, God, they're getting bigger; THEY'RE GETTING BIGGER! Please don't eat me please don't eat me please don't eat me…' _rushing through his head. Another tap on the window and a muffled voice quickly dispersed these random worries, and Ryou sat up in bed, snowy hair ruffled and standing on edge by all the diving into the covers he'd been doing that night.

Slowly, and determined to _not _look in the direction of his lampshade, Ryou slunk over to the window, knowing only one person would have the sheer balls to climb several stories up to his apartment window in the middle of the night. Tugging back slightly on the outside of the thick curtain, his guess was affirmed by the welcome sight of his friend Malik; who was perched on the edge of the windowsill and seemingly oblivious to the fact he could fall off at any second. The Egyptian teenager grinned and waved cockily as he spotted the curtain twitch.

"You gonna let me in at anytime tonight? Only, having frostbite isn't on my list of things to do today, okay?" He was obviously unaware of the fact that he'd arrived at the window in his usual midriff-bearing violet shirt that matched his eyes, black jeans and sneakers. The white-haired teen just smiled and shook his head, all too used to Malik randomly turning up on the nights that his insomnia began to bug him too much. Ryou quickly pushed open the window locks to let Malik heave himself to the inside of the small room; then practically slammed the frame shut behind the Egyptian.

"Jeez," Malik complained with a quick grin, taking advantage of Ryou's empty bed to steal the quilts and wrap them around himself, jumping onto Ryou's bed as he did so. "Expecting someone to follow me up? No offense, but I think I'm the only person stupid-slash-brave enough to come to your apartment unannounced at night." This was true; all too often an unsuspecting wannabe burglar had found themselves on the receiving end of Bakura's wrath. Ryou just shook his head, sending white wisps everywhere like the hair equivalent of a blizzard, looking slightly panicked.

"I just, well, I just don't want you letting any more in," He stammered out, in way of a half-explanation. At the other boy's confused look, the whittette glanced pointedly at the lamp, where a very small moth was crawling about. Malik couldn't stop a smirk from forming.

"It's a moth." He said, stating the obvious to Ryou, who nodded somewhat impatiently and rubbed his eyes, making the dark circles under them all the more obvious.

"I _know _that – it's what's been keeping me up."

"You're scared of moths?" Malik ventured, his grin becoming more pronounced as the other blushed furiously and nodded again, switching from snappy to just plain cute in the space of a second. Malik blinked quickly as he realized what he'd just been thinking.

"I just find them creepy, okay? It's like they _know _I don't like them…" The near-albino bit his lip, suddenly shy about what he was saying.

Malik just rolled his eyes, grin softening now into just a smile. "You really have an issue?"

"If I hadn't, do you really think that I'd have spent the last few hours _hiding in my bed_ from it?" Apparently, fear and lack of sleep made Ryou quite the smartass. Malik rolled his eyes internally this time, and untangled himself from the quilts he'd snatched off the bed. Before the moth could flit away, the blonde had a hold of it in one of his hands and was making his way towards the window he'd come in by.

"You know, it's not even that big, you sure you don't want to look?" Malik started, moving the hand with the moth in it towards Ryou, who squealed girlishly and leapt back onto his bed. Malik snickered internally – even with the slightly (read: _extremely_) undignified behaviour, Ryou was still managing to look seriously cute at the same time.

"No, _don't!_ Just get it out!" Ryou pleaded, turning his best Bambi impression onto the taller boy. "I'm gonna probably have nightmares now, thanks, Malik." He complained, pouting slightly, obviously having no idea how devastatingly adorable he looked with that coupled with the huge brown eyes. Any half-sensitive fangirl - or boy - within fifteen feet would have most likely fainted at that face.

"I'm taking the whole cute puppy-dog-eyes thing as a _no_, then." Malik laughed, and opened the window to let it fly off. "There, problem solved, okay?"

The other let out a soft snort of disbelief and folded his arm sin a parody of moodiness as Malik sat down on the bed himself. "Sure; _you'll _probably be able to sleep tonight, but I know that this is gonna keep _me_ up."

Malik just grinned again and pointed a half-serious accusing finger at the other. "Well, sure, but _you _haven't kept up your end of the bargain."

Ryou was in the middle of yawning hugely, and so could only manage a half-coherent "Huh?" in reply.

"You know, the one where you get a moth free night and I get a free hot-water bottle for the rest of said night?"

"What? I don't remember anything like - argh!" Ryou squealed again as the Egyptian tackled him into a tight hug, wrapping the quilts around them both in the same motion. Ryou quickly slid his arms around Malik's waist, returning the gesture before squeaking out, "Oh, God, you're _freezing_!" and trying to half-heartedly wriggle out of his embrace. Malik just smiled again.

"Why else do you think I'm hugging you?" He asked, even as he pulled Ryou closer. He felt the whittette shrug in his arms.

"Because you like it?" Ryou ventured shyly, burying his face in Malik's chest and closing his eyes, only part wanting an answer. He found it when Malik softly lifted his chin up with a tanned hand, pulling him into a quick kiss. Malik smiled again after they pulled apart, holding the other boy tightly.

"Okay, that too…" he said as Ryou rested his head on the other's shoulder, snowy hair tickling Malik's face. He brought his hand up to stroke the back of Ryou's neck, closing his eyes in contentment as the shorter teen sighed against him and finally gave into sleep.

Malik just reached over to the bedside table and finally switched off the lamp, leaving a short afterglow of the bulb before fading into darkness…

***End***

**A.N: ****All right, all together now "D'awwww!" ^.^**

**For this one-shot (AKA, slight pile of fluff cunningly disguised as a oneshot) I blame the moths that invade my own room. Sadly, I have to get rid of them myself because I don't have Malik to save me from them. Shame… *pouts slightly…although nowhere nearly as cutely as our favorite white-haired teenager***

**Also, this might be the last you hear from me for a while, because I'm due to move house very, very soon! Yayy! :D So, no more writing cute oneshots for me until we get the computers set up at the new place. :'( **

**Anyhoo, cookies, Ryou plushies, and hugs to all ye who review! No, there are no Bakura or Malik plushies, because I have claimed them all for myself…XD**

**Lantu out ;P **


End file.
